The top reported proficiency rate is 85% in Math. The lowest is 71% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Catherine E. Doyle Elementary School
Catherine E. Doyle Elementary School serves children from preschool through third grade in Wood-Ridge, a small, densely populated borough in Bergen County. The school is one of three in the Wood-Ridge School District, and its grade band reflects a deliberate district-wide reorganization that took effect a few years ago. Before that change, Doyle served a wider range of elementary grades; now it is the entry point for the district’s youngest students, who then move to Wood-Ridge Intermediate School for grades four through six. This structure matters to a parent because it means a child will attend at least two, and possibly three, different school buildings within the district before reaching high school.
The student body is about as large as one would expect for a single-grade-band primary school in a borough of this size, drawing from the surrounding residential streets. Demographically, the school is diverse. While a little under half of the students identify as white, the remainder come from Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial backgrounds in meaningful shares. A very small fraction of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that aligns with the borough’s generally high median household income. Information on the share of students with disabilities or who are English learners was not available in the data reviewed, so a parent with a child in those categories may want to ask the school directly about support services.
State testing data is available for third grade only, as that is the first year the New Jersey Student Learning Assessments are administered. On the math assessment, the vast majority of third graders scored at or above the proficient level. On the English language arts assessment, a solid majority did as well. When compared across all districts in Bergen County, Doyle’s combined proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quarter of the county. For a school that only tests one grade level, this is a strong signal that students are entering the intermediate grades well prepared academically. There is no graduation rate to report because the school does not serve high school grades.
Wood-Ridge itself is a compact borough with a walkable street grid and good transit access. Two NJ Transit rail stations serve the town, and multiple bus routes connect to Hackensack, Newark, and Manhattan. The borough has seen population growth in recent years, driven in part by new transit-oriented residential development near the Wesmont train station. Housing values in the area are high, reflecting the broader Bergen County market, and supply is tight. The district’s three schools are located on regular street addresses within the borough rather than on separate campuses, so the elementary school is integrated into the neighborhood.
The most recent district-level change relevant to a parent considering Doyle is the grade realignment itself, which is now a few years old and appears to be the settled structure. Families should be aware that their child will switch schools after third grade, and again after sixth grade, as part of the normal progression through the district. The data does not include information on arts programs, extracurricular offerings, or class sizes, so those are topics a parent would need to raise with the school. Overall, Doyle presents as a well-performing primary school in a stable, transit-connected suburban community, where academic foundations are laid in the early grades before students move on to the intermediate and secondary buildings in the same district.
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